A Night Out
by katz7777777
Summary: "its 4 am and im drunk as fuck in a mcdonalds and you have been watching me try to eat this burger for 30 minutes" AU
1. Chapter 1

So I read this list of AU ideas while completely and utterly intoxicated, and so while in my inebriated state I decided to write a story about an equally drunk Lucy... I pre-emptively apologize for this disaster. I would also like to state, this story is from Lucy's point of view, so her awareness definitely affects the story telling.

* * *

She didn't mean for it to turn out this way.

It was only supposed to be a few drinks, preferably mixed with low alcohol content so that she could make it to her 9:30am class tomorrow without a blinding headache and a rolling stomach, maybe a little bit of small talk to keep her best friend company. Instead, she can only vaguely remember the top if her blue haired friends head as she was pulled away by her oversized boyfriend and was handed yet another tequila shot.

Quite frankly, Lucy wasn't entirely sure how she made it out of the house party to begin with, let alone found herself seated in a fast food joint with the largest burger they offered plated before her. However, looking back on it, she did remember grabbing her coat from Cana's closet while the hostess was distracted. If the brunette had anything to say about it, Lucy doubted she would have been able to slip through the house and onto the dimly lit streets at 4am while plastered, because in Cana's mind you're never too drunk to drink some more.

Plastered was an odd word. It rolled off the tongue weird, and regrettably was an adequate representation of how intoxicated she was, but she wished she had a better phrase for it. Three sheets to the wind, that was what her mother always said.

Lucy snickered, more like 30 sheets. She wondered if she should still be able to feel her fingers.

Somehow, her coat must have contained the funds for this monstrosity of a burger, as she doubted the unimpressed cashier behind the counter would have let her have it otherwise. She guessed the look could also have been one of concern, the males stoic face only slightly crinkled at the corner of his eyes, his black hair looking disheveled as though he'd barely slept. Lucy briefly wondered if the thin tank top he had on was up to company regulations.

She then wondered how he's look with it off, and decided that train of thought needed no further pursuing.

She needed to re-focus her attention on the task before her. Why she had ordered a burger of all things was beyond her, a salad would have been a healthier choice, and possibly easier to eat without looking like a drunken fool. The small container of fries on the side looked appetizing and Lucy tentatively decided to at least try one. After grasping at the air a few times, apparently her depth perception was as messed as her decision making skills, she managed to latch on and consume the strip of potato.

Oh. Thats why. Drunk food.

Lucy let a smile break loose, sure to reveal how out of it she really was, as she reached into the container for another fry. Damn, where did they get the salt for these things, and why had she settled on salads for so long?

"Hey, popsicle, it's my turn on cash. Go clean the toilets or something, thats a good enough job for you." A voice rang through her thoughts as Lucy was midway through brining another one of the fried potato creations to her lips, and with a more than slightly delayed reaction she moved her gaze to the source of the disturbance.

"Why don't you, flame brain, your shift is over soon anyways." The cashier, who was possibly very muscled but unknown until shirt removal, retorted. Based on the way his shirt was riding up, Lucy may have very well been right.

It took her a moment to move her focus over to the new male who had appeared behind the counter, and if her brain had been fried before it was now completely crisped.

"Pink." Was the only word to escape her lips, and Lucy immediately covered her mouth after her slip up. Regretting her instinctive reaction, Lucy removed her hand and the now mashed fry from her face, frowning before tossing it onto the tray. She thanked the spirits that neither of them seemed to hear her, too caught up in their argument over taking cash, as she doubted the very (with extra emphasis on very) attractive male would appreciate her comment on his unique choice of hair colour.

If she considered the black haired male to be disheveled before, he was to be easily rivalled by this newcomer, as she was certain not even gel could make hair stand in that many directions at once.

"Gray, look, there's not even anyone her-" 'Pink's sweeping arm gesture stopped when he accidentally made eye contact with Lucy, and the startled look on his face almost caused her to giggle out loud. The smug look on the others face did her in though, and she lowered her head as she released a quiet snicker, amuser by their banter.

As her head lowered she caught sight of the golden top bun of the double thick burger she had purchased, and remembered her original goal for coming here. Cure the hangover before it happened.

A quick glance up told her that the two workers had returned to their previous argument, though the flush over 'Pink's face did not go unnoticed. He must be losing.

Lucy sighed at the abundant amount of food before her, beginning to regret her choices once again, before stepping her foot into the grave she had dug.

The first challenge was finding a manner in which to grasp the burger. Holding it with one hand seemed inconvenient, but she doubted she could manage the use of both of her hands in unison, especially when feeling had yet to return to any of her fingers.

She wondered if she still had any feeling in her toes… Nope, that was a no go.

Two hands it was, because as much of a fool as she'd look using two uncoordinated hands, she decided it would be more foolish to lose half the burger to one handed nonsense. Moving her right hand first, Lucy managed to get a hold on the burger before her with little struggle. It seemed her earlier depth issues were temporary, she hoped things stayed that way. By some form of luck, she also managed to grasp the other side of the burger, however it would seem her struggles were not yet over.

How did someone put so much ketchup on a burger that simply by holding it she managed to squeeze the substance out onto the other hand? Disgruntled, and slightly offended by the thought of continuing to eat with the dripping substance on her hand, Lucy removed her right hand to delicately lick it off. Satisfied, and clean enough to continue eating, she returned her hand to the burger.

Only to need to remove her left hand for the same tedious reasoning. Lucy felt a frown settle upon her face when the ketchup, or as she has now deemed it "satan sauce", slicked her hand for a fourth time. This was getting her nowhere.

Lucy decided the appropriate approach to this was to remove most of the ketchup from the burger. Glancing around her table, and seeing no napkins at her disposal, that left her with the option to simply lick it off as she had been doing for her last several attempts. Gross. Sighing, she removed the top level of the burger to find the disgruntling paste, and at first tentatively soon to be then determinedly licked the remainder ketchup from the burger.

An almost exasperated moan drew Lucy's attention away from the task at hand, but the only other person in the room appeared to be the tuff of pink hair that was only slightly visible from above the counter. What was he doing down there?

Lucy regarded the fluff on top of the others head with a moment of nostalgia, it reminded her a lot of a plush she had when she was younger, she wondered if his hair would be just as soft.

Moment gone, Lucy returned her thoughts to the now much cleaner burger before her, ready to attempt round two.

Her second attempt was much more successful than the first, managing to bring the burger to her mouth (without smearing it across the remainder of her face) and take a more than reasonable sized bite. The failure was when she realized she had definitely over estimated herself and downed more than half of her soft drink in one sitting, which resulted in a loud coughing fit and more than a bit of dizziness. Was the room always spinning like this? She hoped not, it would be hard to leave this place if it was.

When did she get to leave again? Oh right, when she finished her burger. Round three, let the bells ring.

She glanced up to see if the pink tuff of hair was still squatted behind the counter, and instead found said male leaning more than half way over the counter, a look of stress adorning his face in a way that made Lucy think of the word frazzled. She hoped she hadn't caused that. Casting what was either a very drunk or a very flirtatious smile at the attractive man, she returned to her drunken meal, a small part of her wondering if he could show such concern for a stranger.

Lucy successfully made it through half of her burger before deciding that if she stared at it for long enough it might disappear on its own accord. It was far too much food, especially for someone who ate more salads and soups than anything, this many carbs was far beyond her body's expected capacity. She had eaten too much and was rapidly becoming more languid, she would need to call a cab soon or she was going to pass out here in this restaurant. Though, the longer she sat the more appealing that idea was becoming. She wondered what happened to people who passed out in fast food franchises, she hoped they wouldn't just toss her into the street.

The sharp scraping of chair across tile drew Lucy's attention to the position across from her, and she sucked in a startled breath when it did, because the attractive pink haired worked had just pulled up across from her like it was nothing.

"Hi, I'm Natsu." He said, his voice gruffer than the argumentative tone she had heard him use with his coworker earlier, and she can't say she was complaining. The grin that spread across his face was massive.

Lucy was confused as to why he was sitting with her. Was he on break? Did he want to hit on her? Was he going to call her out on being drunk? Was he going to tell her she needed to leave? Had she been here too long? How long had she even been here? The thoughts whirling in her head left her unable to speak, and she could only watch as the grin slowly began to slip from the other male's face.

"What' you name?" Oh, maybe he just wanted to talk.

"Lucy." She responded, her voice a higher pitch than she intended, and she blushed at the blinding smile he sent her way.

"It's nice to meet you Lucy!"

"Why are you here?" She was careful to keep her tone light this time, no need to scare away the new visitor, he would be very welcome company if she was more aware and less intoxicated.

"Well, I'm on my break, and you looked lonely over here, so I thought I'd come join you, but if you would rather be alone I can always leave…" She watched with fascination as his face gradually shifted from a dusting of pink to a full blown red by the end of his statement, a calloused hand coming up to scratch the back of his head. Even drunk, she could tell embarrassment when she saw it.

"No, it's more than fine, just wouldn't want you skipping out on work." She punctuated the end of her sentence with a tipsy and this time definitely flirtatious smile, and it seemed to do a good job at keeping the blush on his face.

"Good! Because Gray is such boring company, and I wouldn't want to spend all break listening to him whine about his life." Lucy giggled and leaned to prop her head up with her hand, growing more tired by the minute, but willing to sacrifice some sleep to learn a little more about this 'Natsu' she happened to stumble upon.

"Yo, fire starter, get back on cash!" The shout from the back of the shop turned the male before her from a gleeful smile to a look full of discontent, and Lucy almost giggled again at his strangely expressive face.

"I'm on break, freezer boy." He shouted back, none too gentle on the name calling which, while perplexing, amused her drunken mind. She wondered if he would give her a nickname as well.

The black haired male came out of the back with rage lining his features as he stalked towards the table Lucy and her new found friend were seated at, glaring daggers that were meant to kill.

Lucy wondered if she should leave before anything got worse.

"You don't get a break unless I say so, nitwit." The huffed insult drew Natsu to his feet and Lucy let her arms fold on the table, creating a small makeshift pillow for her head. She decided she had nothing better to do, might as well wait this out.

"And what makes you the boss of me, moron?" Lucy closed her eyes and let herself take a small break from being awake, if their anger wasn't directed at her, she might as well stay out of it. Maybe they would forget she was here and she could get a good nights sleep.

"What did you just call me you idiot?"

"You heard me, or are you so stupid you need me to repeat it for you again? Moron." Lucy wasn't sure if she was amused by their childish argument, or irritated that their noise was making it harder to slip into slumber. Her limbs had already relaxed with exhaustion, she wasn't even sure how much longer head could focus on the words of the other two. Maybe it was for the better, didn't need to hear them throw petty insults around.

"Clench your teeth right now unless you want to lose some." Oh, maybe she should stop them if they get into an actual fight. If only her body would listen to her and let her move.

"Like your punches would ever hurt."

"You fuc-"

"Wait… Lucy?"

Lucy registered that Natsu had called her name, in fact in her dream like state she was pretty sure she responded, but when he called her name a second time she guessed she just imagined it. Strange, maybe she should actually respond this time.

"I think she's asleep Natsu."

"Shit… Lucy? Lucy, you need to wake up." She felt a hand rock her a shoulder a little, much to her displeasure, and Lucy only grumbled and curled up tighter into her arms. Just let her sleep a little longer, she'd wake up soon.

"Nice job pyro, now what."

"Why are you asking me! How am I supposed to know?"

"You spoke to her, she's your responsibility now."

"What kind of logic is that?" Lucy wasn't necessarily opposed to that logic, being the responsibility of the very attractive Natsu would be more than interesting. He also looked like he had a lot of muscle under that black shirt of his, she wondered if she could convince him to take it off.

"My logic."

"You're a - Okay, we don't have time for this right now, we need to get her home or something."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"No, I'm not her stalker or anything!" Lucy had a stalker before, had to call Loki to walk her home a few times, before her friend noticed the man and turned on him with the ferocity of a lion. She pitied any man that ever tried again.

"I'll take her back to my place then."

"Yeah right you pervert, I will not let her be tainted by your stripping habits!" Well, as long as she got to see one of them shirtless…

"Then what, you'll take her back to your place? That place is a dump."

"It is not! And it's closer than yours, considering neither of us drive, its the better option." Neither of them drive? Were they gonna make her walk? She did not want to walk, she wanted to be asleep and warm and wake up tomorrow with a fresh cup of coffee and some advil for the sure to come hangover.

"Fine, just get her out of here before the manager shows, she'd have my head if she knew." Lucy wanted to laugh at the fear she heard in the others voice, she didn't know who could possibly drive such fear into this defiant man but she would love to meet them.

"Sorry about this Lucy." Was all she heard before suddenly Lucy was being lifted off of her chair and into the arms of a surprisingly strong Natsu. She felt the need to get up, but after shuffling his hands around to get a better grip on her legs and back, she found herself nuzzling into his chest as he carried her off towards his house. Maybe this would be a bad idea, maybe going home with a random worker from some fast food joint she couldn't even remember the name of was going to lead her to her death, but she couldn't help but take comfort in the scent and heat the male provided. No matter how hard she tried she was lulled into a deeper sleep by his steady pace and his arms clasped around her.

She woke up momentarily when she was placed on a much softer surface than before, and the warmth that had been ever so present was rapidly dissipating. In an attempt to regain some of the heat she blindly located a blanket within her grasps and curled up, shivering at the loss of contact.

"Ahh… Fuck it." Is all she heard before the soft surface, what she was now assuming was a bed, dipped low and the rolling waved of heat curled up behind her.

"At least give me some of the blanket too."

* * *

Alright, so thats done with :p I'm thinking about writing a Natsu POV and a "when Lucy wakes up" kind of thing, but that will be decided by how motivated I am after assignments and whether or not people actually like this story :) Let me know any thoughts, comments, or critiques! Thanks for reading till the end!

~Katz7777777


	2. Chapter 2

I haven't done the Natsu POV yet, but I thought this would be okay for now :)

* * *

Surprisingly, it was neither the blaring alarm of her phone nor the blinding light of the morning sun that drew Lucy from her slumber. Instead, it was a gruff groan into the back of her neck accompanied by a tanned arm stretching over her shoulder in search of the offending noise.

The screech that left her lips as she whipped up stabbed sharp through her pounding head causing her to almost miss the dull thud her bed partner made as he toppled onto the floor. The pink hair man, who if Lucy's memory was serving her right was named Natsu, was now grumbling on the floor fighting with a mess of blankets as she tried her best to compose her self.

Her fragmented memory was slowly coming back to her, from the shots at Cana's to the fast food detour long after midnight, and how according to the nausea in her stomach her snack had failed her. Lucy resisted the urge to curl over and groan, there's were too many other things to do, such as handle the very attractive man who had finally disentangled himself.

Very attractive, and very shirtless man.

"Turn off that godforsaken noise already." Natsu groaned from the floor, voice muffled as he held his head in his hands, the early morning obviously not doing him any favours.

His voice pulled her out of the staring contest she was having with his toned chest, and she tried to stifle the burning red blush on her face as she crawled across the bed to find her phone. She would have sighed in relief when she finally silenced the alarm had Natsu not already beat her to it, dropping back to the floor in the silence.

Lucy was prepared to lie back down too and relish in the silence, but it would seem her stomach had other plans, clearly disagreeing with her sudden movements.

"Washroom." Was the only word she trusted herself to say, her hand already moving up to cover her mouth and trying to maneuver her feet towards the floor without collapsing on top of Natsu.

"Second door on the right." Was the response she got before booking it for the bedroom door, nearly tripping on her discarded coat, sliding down the hall and throwing herself into the empty washroom. Arms firmly grasping the porcelain throne, kneeling on cold tile, Lucy managed to retch up anything that had stayed in her stomach. The hangover regret was burning in the back of her throat and in the throbbing of her head, she wanted nothing more than a warm bed and a handful of advil, but she wasn't going anywhere in this state.

She wasn't sure how long she spent hacking into the toilet, but it was long enough for Natsu to have made his way into the washroom and peel her hair back into a very messy bun, his hand rubbing warm circles on her back. Between coughs she wondered how he got so good at this.

His hand left her back and she missed the warm contact that was stopping her world from spinning, but he brought her a full glass of water that she barely got out a 'thank you' for before downing the entire thing. She could have sworn she heard him chuckle from somewhere behind her, but she refused to move from the toilet just yet. The large hand returned to its previous ministrations and Lucy let her head drop onto the edge of the seat, something akin to regret and embarrassment coursing through her being. Shortly after, Natsu stood up muttering something about coffee, and left Lucy to gather her thoughts in the toilet.

What a disaster of a night. She sighed into her arms, regretting ever joining Levy at that party, but mostly regretting letting Cana pour her drinks. On a Thursday night none the less, Cana always knew how to throw a party. It wasn't all bad though, she supposes, she did get to meet an interesting pair at a late night food joint. One of them was even nice enough to take her home and treat her to coffee in the morning.

Wait. Thursday night. Meaning it was Friday. The same Friday morning she had an essay to hand in. The same essay that was worth a quarter of her mark. The same Friday she had set an exceptionally early alarm just so she wouldn't miss class.

Shit.

Lucy scrambled to the room she had spent the night in, now assuming it was Natsu's bedroom, and snatched her coat off the floor before racing in the direction she assumed was his kitchen. Nearly running into the other, Lucy had to back pedal a few steps to avoid getting scorching liquid all over herself, Natsu's surprised smile wreaking some havoc on her but it wasn't the time.

"School - Alarm - Essay - Have to go." Lucy stuttered out, certain her face was as flushed as she felt, nerves standing on end as she watched the smile slowly slip from his face. "Sorry."

"No worries." Natsu seemed to brace himself with a new tight smile as he put the steaming mugs down, and walked towards the front door, opening a closet and pulling out a pair of muddied shoes that looked a lot like the new shoes she had worn out last night.

"Thank you so much, for everything, I promise I'll make it up to you somehow." Lucy rushed, strapping her now destroyed shoes on and grimacing only slightly at the still damp dirt inside.

"I look forward to it." Natsu smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, looking more like he was contemplating something.

Having finally gotten everything together, Lucy tested her balance in heels before reaching for the door handle. Just before she opened the door she was struck by a thought.

"Do you always work night shifts?" She turned and asked, watching Natsu's eyes snap up to hers from where they were locked on the floor.

"Umm, during the week yeah, but I work mornings Sunday." He answered, quizzically looking at her, probably as confused as she was by the sudden question.

"I'll see you soon then." She throws over her shoulder before bolting out the door, leaving the flirtatious smile for him to interpret as she ran down the street, hoping the cold air would brush away the heat in her cheeks.

* * *

"So what you're telling me is that all of this," Lucy gestures exasperatedly at the air around her, "Is all your fault?"

Cana just smirked at Lucy before leaning on the small classroom desks towards her friend, "If by all of this you mean tequila spiking your drinks so that you ended up alone at a hot fast-food worker's house overnight and have a murderous hangover today, then yes, I'm guilty as charged."

Lucy let her head drop onto the table. She looked like a disaster, having barely made it home in time to shower and print her essay, she had thrown her hair up and slipped into a comfortable sweater before running out the door to catch the bus. Not only that, but she had arrived late and the instructor had stared her down as she handed him the hastily stapled paper, and over a hundred pair of eyes watched her slip in next to her friend for the remaining half hour of lecture. She wasn't sure she needed Cana's teasing about her new found crush tacked on top of this.

"So, how far did you two ge-" Lucy slapped a hand over Cana's mouth before she could continue that thought any further, her face already starting to burn up. She definitely didn't need this today.

* * *

When Lucy awoke again the sun had already settled far below the horizon, her stomach growling loudly in protest of her evening nap. She had gotten a ride home from Cana as way of apology and had slipped into hungover slumber shortly after. Rolling over, she glanced at her clock, the green LED's brightly displaying 10:07pm.

Lucy groaned as she rolled out of bed, her body still protesting with too much movement. If nothing else, she felt her stomach had settled a little, but not enough to eat the leftover salad in the fridge. Her thoughts flickered briefly to the container of salted fries and oversized burger she had consumed yesterday, and her stomach flipped for more than one reason.

"You did what!?" The sharp voice rings through the thin walls of her shared apartment. Outside her door she heard her redheaded roommate speaking strictly into the phone, and against all self preservation instincts Lucy left her room.

"I'll be there in 15, don't you dare break anything else while I'm gone." Erza scolded before professionally slipping her phone into her pocket and turning to greet Lucy.

"Work?" Is all she can muster at the moment, and Erza just nods in acknowledgement, the exasperation difficult to miss on her face. "What happened this tim-"

Lucy's stomach cuts her off with monstrous growl, and she does everything she can to hold off the blush as her roommate laughs, she should have seen this coming.

"If you'd like, you could come with me and I'll get you something to eat?" Ezra offered, already putting on her shoes and searching for car keys in her jacket. If Lucy recalled correctly, Erza just started working at a fast food restaurant not too far away, and Lucy had promised to come visit her whenever she got the next chance.

"You would be the best roommate ever." Lucy smiled, moving slowly towards the front door to get ready, deciding her casual attire would have to do. She probably wouldn't see anyone she knew anyways, and a greasy burger was probably the best hangover cure she was going to get at this time of night.

The ride over was filled with stories of Cana's party and Erza's work havoc during the night Lucy had been out. Apparently one of the employees had left early, and the other had decided to deep fry the soft serve yogurt they offered, though they had filled the deep fryer and successfully overflowed the machine. Ezra was surprisingly calm about it, though Lucy had trouble picturing her flustered over anything.

Pulling into the establishment, Lucy felt a wave of familiarity and had to pause for a minute before following Erza through the doors and further towards the back room.

"Its your fault you twit, you just had to set something on fire, you damn pyro!"

"That's rich coming from the dude who though putting ice-cream on the flaming stove was a good idea, pure genius right there."

"I hope that's not arguing I'm hear." Erza's voice rang through the room, her broad shoulders blocking Lucy from seeing anything, though the banter was also suspiciously familiar and Lucy was starting to feel her stomach flutter.

Lucy heard a chair screech across the floor as two synchronized noises of surprise sounded through the break room, the air held stagnant for a moment.

"No! never!" One yipped.

"We would never!" The second voice pipped in, and Lucy had to stifle a giggle at the authority Erza obviously held over the two.

"Good, that's what I thought. Now, I need one of you to walk me through what happened, and I need someone to whip up my friend some food." Ezra said as she stepped further into the room.

Lucy finally stepped out from behind Erza, and was met with the sight of pink disheveled bedhead and toned tan arms. She could only stand there flabbergasted.

"Lucy?"

* * *

So first and foremost I would really like to thank whoever nominated me for s/11871673/4/ The-Favorite-Fairy-Tail-Fanfiction-2016 I really appreciate it as I've never been nominated for a writing contest before! Secondarily, I'm sorry about the delay on this update, I'm horrible for keeping a consistent schedule... Finally, I definitely still want to write the Natsu POV, however I might do it in a different story and link it here, or maybe post it after I've completed this :) Let me know any thoughts, comments or critiques! Thanks for reading till the end!

~Katz7777777


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